The present invention concerns the manufacture of tires. It relates to the type of apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,523, issued Jan. 3, 1989, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Such an apparatus is intended for the manufacture of tire reinforcements from a single cord. Among its essential members this apparatus comprises means for retaining the cord which are borne by levers referred to in said patent by the term "support arm". This apparatus also has means for presenting the cord to the retention means. In the examples described, these presentation means are formed by a rotary arm which assures the unwinding and the hooking of the cord to the retention means; the retention means for the cord are formed by a pair of hooks, and the cord is unwound from an orifice located at the end of the rotary arm.
The object of the present invention is to propose novel retention means and novel cord presentation means which are particularly well suited (although this is not limitative) when using a rather stiff cord, such as, for example, a metal cable.
In accordance with the invention, a cord retaining means for a tire manufacturing apparatus, said apparatus being of the type having two coaxial rings of levers, the ends of which bear the said retaining means, is characterized by the fact that it essentially defines a groove limited by two lips, the bottom of said groove defining an unclosed curve.
For an understanding of the principle of manufacture used in the present invention and for the general configuration of the manufacturing apparatus, reference can be made to the disclosure of said patent.